Halda fish egg collectors brood on misfortune

Fish egg collectors of the Halda River in Chattogram face the disappointment of not finding any eggs since the beginning of the season.

Shafiul Alam, a middle-aged egg collector from the Madarsa area of Chattogram, had to leave empty-handed after toiling hard from dawn to dusk on Monday.

He was unable to reconcile with the fact that his catch in the Halda River, the sole breeding ground for natural carp in this country, did not match his expectations.

Shafiul was not alone in his fruitless endeavour. Hundreds of egg collectors like him, who eke out a living by selling their catch, returned disappointed, attributing their “bad luck” to the lack of rains and flash floods in the region this year.

“Monday turned out to be a big disappointment for us. Full moon, high tide nothing helped, as our egg collection was not what we had expected,” another fisherman said in a choked voice.

The Halda River is the only natural fish breeding ground in Bangladesh, where the carp species release eggs from April to June almost every year from time immemorial.

The collected eggs are hatched in the artificial mud-made scoop on the riverbank to produce carp fries for supply to different regions of the country.

“Hopefully mother fishes will lay more eggs during the next full moon night,” Shafiul said.

Experts also said that the collectors might need to wait a bit longer for full-scale egg release in the Halda River this year, “Till the showers trigger flash floods”.

The river is a very favorable breeding ground for Ruhi, Mrigel, Katol, and Kalbaush species to lay eggs, according to experts.

“This year, the eggs that have been collected are actually ‘sample eggs’ released by mother fish. The fertilised fishes are yet to get a favorable environment for full-scale egg release as there were not enough rains.